MSU to construct 'green' toilets for girls

Vadodara: It has been years of inconvenience and disgrace for girl students at M S University (MSU) with only a handful of girl restrooms on the campus. Girl students can now heave a sigh of relief as the university is constructing 'green toilets' across the campus.
Even as the girls to boys ratio stands at around 60:40 per cent at the university, MSU had so far done little to make the campus female friendly.
Even in the academic year 2015-16, when the university enrolled 33,913 students, a majority of them-19,116 were girls.
As per University Grants Commission (UGC), there should be one washroom for 100 women against which MSU houses only 157 toilets for 19,116 girls.
Recently, the university received a grant of Rs3.5 crore from Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for infrastructure renovation. Of the allocated amount, a sum of Rs75 lakh will be spent on the construction of 'green toilets' for women.
"Few years ago when professor Yogesh Singh was the vice-chancellor, a committee was formed to come up with a remedy for sanitary issues faced by women on the campus. A committee was formed, existing toilets were renovated and washrooms also built for women at the head office. Unfortunately, we were not able to complete the work due to unavailability of funds," said MSU senate member Hemal Mehta, who was also part of the committee.
"At present, we are focusing on constructing washrooms for girls since they form nearly half of university's total strength," said university engineer N K Ojha. "We will begin construction work as soon as the proposal is passed by syndicate members."
"Toilet blocks for women will be constructed at the Faculty of Technology and Engineering and one will be built between the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Commerce. A common washroom facility will be made between the convocation ground and Sayaji Bhavan that houses Maharaja Ranjitsinh Gaekwad Institute of Design," said architect for the university, Sarika Vohara.
"The toilets will be water efficient. Motion sensors will be installed for low energy consumption. Restrooms will be built in adjoining washrooms," said Vohara.
Vohra added that these toilets will comply with the norms of green building. "These toilets will also accommodate restrooms. The washrooms will be water efficient that will have automatic flushing system. Motion sensors will be used to conserve energy," she said.